Betsy and I had heard that our friend Marike from Germany was coming over to the USA, so wished to introduce her to the Pacific NorthWest. She was accompanied by her friend Marianne, both were environmental studies students in Berlin. Jon and I had encountered Marike in Berlin while we were passing through, and left her my touring bicycle, with agreement that she would pay for it at her earliest convenience. I guess that no time will ever be “convenient” for her. Knowing that she would be in America for a wedding, she and her travel friend decided to see the PNW. We picked her up at the airport, and after settling in, went out to dinner at the Lobster Shop in downtown Tacoma. The next day, it was a planned trip to Mt. Rainier. We did the loop around the mountain going clockwise, starting north through Enumclaw. Our adventure went up to Sunrise, and a 4-5 mile hike ensued. The weather was cloudy, but periods of being able to see the entire mountain would happen, leaving it a spectacular beauty. I didn’t anticipate snow, but Sunrise received a dusting, as you can see from the above photo. We didn’t have enough time to do too much else, but did stop at Reflection Lakes, though it had clouded over by then and no reflections were to be seen.

At Sunrise point

A view of the mountain

That evening, we went out to dinner at Chili Thai, joined by Dr. Peters. The next day ended up to be unexpectedly a bit more clear in weather, but we had other plans, starting with the museum of glass. We decided against doing too much more in downtown Tacoma, and drove home, followed by a long walk on the Foothills trail to the Carbon River crossing from Orting.

On the Carbon River bridge

Monday took us to Seattle proper. We drove to Angle Lake and rode the light rail into the city. Our first adventure was downtown, seeing the sites and hitting Pike Place market. Running a bit short on time, we rode the monorail up to Seattle Center, where we viewed the Space Needle and saw the general sites of the old world fair. At this point, Marike wanted to see the museum of pop culture, but Marianne and I were not so interested, so we split up. Marianne and I went back downtown, and ran down to the waterfront, where we toured various shops. After that, we quickly ran up to the Flagship REI store in Seattle, which Marike and Marianne were both interested in. After purchasing several memorable REI t-shirts, we stopped by the Feathered Friends store (which makes down parka/sleeping bags for fun and expeditions) and then ran back to WestLake Center to reconnoitre with Marike.

In old town Seattle, next to a commemoration of Chief Seattle

Pike Place Market

On the Monorail

The Space Needle

Museum of Pop Culture

The REI headquarters in downtown Seattle

The grounds around the Seattle REI

Tuesday was the day to say goodbyes. I took Marike to the airport, and Marianne went to spend several more days in Seattle, followed by several days in Portland, meeting up with my sister Gloria, who took Marianne around town. It was an enjoyable time with the two girls, though their interest was mostly environmental, and they had arrived right at the dead end of the PNW season for getting outdoors, making it difficult to plan for outings. The two girls were quite enjoyable to be with, but Betsy and I (and Gloria) were left a little bit perplexed about matters, as though we might have offended their sensibilities. Strangely, they have not made any effort to reconnect with us. Perhaps their preconceptions from the German media have left them with an American stereotype offensive to their taste. Perhaps we were just old fogies unable to satisfy the whims of the youthful heart. Whatever it was, I do hope they do well in their studies and that they single-handedly save the world from an environmental catastrophe. So I wish them the best.

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